Bok Choy Coma: Vegetable's Enzymes Put 88-Year-Old Woman in Coma

Bok Choy-Heavy Diet Puts 88-Year-Old Woman in Coma

A daily diet of more than two pounds of raw bok choy, a vegetable often used in Thai and other Asian dishes, sent an 88-year-old Chinese woman into a coma -- and doctors determined an enzyme in the uncooked produce was the culprit.

The woman, who wasn't identified in the "New England Journal of Medicine" report about her case, was rushed to the emergency room of New York University's hospital in New York City last summer by her family after she became lethargic and lost her ability to walk and swallow for a period of three days.

She had been eating between 2 and 3 pounds of raw bok choy, or Chinese white cabbage, each day for several months in the belief that it would help manage symptoms of her diabetes.

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